I got into journalism because I was told there would be little math, so bear with me. But I am deeply confused about something.

During Wednesday's council meeting, Assistant Chief David Pughes, interim leader of the Dallas PD for the last year, said it costs around $3 million to staff the State Fair of Texas with uniformed police officers during the three-week event. Yet the city's only asking Big Tex to cough up about $1 million "for security, crowd control, perimeter traffic controls and other special services provided during the annual State Fair of Texas."

It doesn't take a beautiful mind to see the $2-million-sized hole in that equation.

The Dallas City Council spent a lot of time Wednesday trying to solve that math problem, even going behind closed doors for a little tutoring from Pughes and other city officials. But when the council came back into public's view, there wasn't really a good answer about why the fair's getting such a good deal, other than: Everyone loves the State Fair of Texas, and, look, that's just the cost of keeping Big Tex from fleeing to Frisco. The alternative view: The State Fair of Texas is a drain on ever-diminishing city resources and a leech slowly killing Fair Park.

The usual, in other words.

So let's get right to the point: This particular deal — good for the fair, bad for the city, just so we're clear — is not the State Fair of Texas' doing. Be ticked all you want at Big Tex, but this is Dallas' fault.

As the sun set on the last day of the State Fair of Texas in 2016, Dallas police officer Brent Carter gave a lost little boy directions from atop his perch at Big Tex Circle.

(File Photo/Tom Fox)

Took me a while, but I found out the real reason Big Tex doesn't have to pay the full $3 million it costs to keep fairgoers safe. Um, it's right there in the fair's contract with City Hall.

See, every other group in this city that throws a special event — like the Dallas St. Patrick's Parade on Greenville Avenue or Dallas Aurora in the Arts District — has to secure a special-events permit from the city. And that permit, which comes with numerous requirements and fees, obligates the event-thrower to pay for cops.

But Pughes told me after Wednesday's council meeting that according to its contract with the city, which runs through 2028, "the State Fair of Texas does not have to obtain a special-event permit." That means it's not required to pay a penny for security.

And that's very, very good for the State Fair. Because the police department is sending cops to Fair Park even if the fair refuses to pony up so much as a corn dog.

"When you think of everything happening in the country with mass gatherings of people, we would be highly derelict if we said, 'We don't think you're paying enough,'" said Pughes, who didn't want to be Dallas' top cop because he hates playing politics with citizens' safety. "From the police department's perspective, the money issue doesn't change how we see the safety plan."

As my City Hall bunkmate Tristan Hallman recently reported, the city has demanded the State Fair pay a flat fee of $550,000 to cover some DPD overtime costs — some but not all, because all would be in excess of $1.3 million. Karissa Condoianis, the fair's spokeswoman, told me Wednesday she's never heard the $3 million figure mentioned at the council meeting. Not once.

Dallas Police officer Andre Taylor patrols with the mounted unit behind the Texas Hall of State on the last day of the 2012 State Fair of Texas.

(File Photo/Staff)

I asked her if the fair would pay that, if asked.

"I think if they bring it to us, we're going to have to analyze it, because that's obviously a big figure," Condoianis said. "But we're committed to making sure we have the same level of security that keeps the fair safe, and we think the Dallas Police Department is the strongest partner to advance that initiative."

And it's a nonprofit that gave its top executive $708,000 in total compensation in 2015 — $158,000 more than it spent on the cops last year.

Until recently the city just let all that happen, looking elsewhere while the State Fair of Texas big-footed South Dallas and City Hall. As council member Philip Kingston put it Wednesday, "The elephant in the room that no one seems to want to address is the State Fair's agreement with the city of Dallas is the problem."

"We'll be going back to the State Fair revisit this within the next year," Jon Fortune, the new assistant city manger overseeing the cops, told me late Wednesday about the cost of protecting the fair. "We'll certainly see how the costs pan out this year and sit down with them again."

The council's been told over and over that the city's contract with the State Fair is non-negotiable. Or, more to the point, that it rigs the game in Big Tex's favor.

But Fortune and police officials got Big Tex to cough up $1 million. And all they had to do was ask.